Night Child Review

Tess Corday is twenty four years old and works as a junior employee for the Mystical Crime lab unit of CORE in Vancouver, Canada. Tess’ job as an Occult Special Investigator (OSI) is to investigate the mystical cases involving vampires and demons. She is also a mage –half human and half demon, which leaves Tess with some powers to assist her while solving crimes.

Tess’s best friend Derek also works for CORE but as a telepath using his abilities to read the last thoughts of the victims at crime scenes.

Tess and Derek’s latest case is that of a dead male vampire found in an alley. There is no blood or any defensive wounds on the vampire or at the crime scene. But in the vamp’s pocket is an address that leads them to the home of a thirteen year old girl named Mia Polanski.

Tess has no idea how Mia is related to the dead vamp and how the pieces fit together. But it’s the girl’s resemblance to someone Tess knew long ago that makes this case a tough one for her. Things get personal and Tess will do whatever it takes to make sure Mia is kept safe.

A necromancer named Lucian Agrado tries to assist Tess with her case but she is weary of trusting him. Tess starts to have dreams about Lucian, her past and the case she is currently working on. Can the necromancer be trusted or is he bad news?

When the case turns deadly, Tess’ boss Marcus orders her to take a leave of absence. But Tess is in too deep to just walk away from everything. Can Tess find out who killed the vampire and why? Will Tess’ past haunt her to the point where she isn’t able to concentrate on her current case? Will Tess, Derek, and Mia make it out of this alive?

NIGHT CHILD is a dark urban fantasy told in first person point of view by the main character Tess Corday. This is the first book in a new series and I saw a lot of promise with this installment. The characters are intelligent and good people despite being half demon.

The action sequences were brutal and exciting to read about. Tess appears to be a very complex character with a dark and haunted past that she has yet to deal with. Hopefully we can learn more about Tess and her life before becoming an investigator in the next book.